The present invention relates generally to air/fuel ratio gauges, and more particularly to an improved air/fuel ratio gauge featuring a gauge display which provides separate sets of visual indicators adapted to operate independent of each other when simultaneously monitoring an exhaust mixture of a single or dual exhaust system.
Air/fuel ratio gauges are typically used to monitor exhaust mixtures, that is, the ratio of air to unburned fuel in exhaust systems of automobiles. These gauges are essentially voltmeters that display the voltage outputs of oxygen sensors in order to determine the richness (i.e., less air, more fuel) or leanness (i.e., more air, less fuel) of the exhaust mixtures. Ideally, the exhaust mixtures should be at stoichiometric which is the perfect ratio of air and fuel.
The exhaust mixture of a typical automobile runs back and forth between rich and lean. For instance, when the automobile is accelerated, more fuel is injected into its engine to keep the exhaust mixture rich. This gives the automobile maximum power for acceleration. Under de-acceleration, however, the engine leans out the exhaust mixture which has the obvious effect of conserving fuel.
As the automobiles frequently alternate between rich and lean exhaust mixtures, it is important to monitor such conditions to avoid any serious damages to their engines. For example, a vacuum leak or a drop in fuel pressure could potentially damage the engine of the automobile assuming that the ratio between air and fuel is extremely lean. By monitoring the exhaust mixture conditions, problems such as vacuum leaks or low fuel pressures can be revealed and repaired before any serious damage to the automobile's engine occurs.
The air/fuel ratio gauge is a good indicator of potentially serious damages to the engine of an automobile. A typical air/fuel ratio gauge is incorporated near a driver's section of the automobile and electrically wired to an oxygen sensor attached about the side of the engine. By establishing such electrical connection, the oxygen sensor can measure the presence of oxygen in the exhaust and provide its measurements to the air/fuel ratio gauge in the form of voltage outputs. The air/fuel gauge then translates these voltage outputs into visual indicia easily recognizable by the driver and displays the same on its visual display.
Although the conventional air/fuel ratio gauges may be satisfactory for a single exhaust system, they cannot however account for a dual exhaust system. This is because dual exhaust systems typically employ the use of two oxygen sensors for each of the two exhausts. Because the conventional gauges are designed to be used with one oxygen sensor at a time, the exhaust mixture measurement accounts for only one of the exhausts. The driver must therefore rely on the exhaust mixture ratio of that exhaust as an indication of the status of the other exhaust. As such, the current gauges in the marketplace cannot provide complete assessments as to the exhaust mixture ratios when it comes to automobiles with dual exhaust systems.
Even though two air/fuel ratio gauges may theoretically be applied to dual exhaust automobiles, it would be extremely impractical to take such course of action. First, the cost of doing so would obviously be more expensive as opposed to implementing the use of only one gauge. Further, the incorporation of an additional air/fuel ratio gauge into the automobile may undesirably complicate the interior aesthetics thereof since the space is usually limited within the automobile. More importantly, however, the use of multiple gauges may significantly jeopardize the safety of the driver, passengers and others as the driver can easily be distracted on the road due to separate visual displays which must be read. Understandably, this can compromise the driver's focus on the road.
Thus, there has long been a need in the industry, and in the automobile industry in particular, for a single air/fuel ratio gauge that can operate with both single and dual exhaust systems in order to assess the ratio between air and fuel in their exhaust mixtures. More specifically, there is a need for an air/fuel ratio gauge which can perform such assessments in all the exhausts of the exhaust system and display the same to its user in an easy-to-read manner through the use of a single visual display.
The present invention addresses and overcomes the above-described deficiencies of prior art air/fuel ratio gauges by providing a single air/fuel ratio gauge which is adapted to monitor the exhaust mixtures of both single exhaust systems and dual exhaust systems. Furthermore, such air/fuel ratio gauge additionally features a single gauge display that provides separate sets of independently operating visual indicators each directed to their respective exhausts so as to provide all exhaust mixture assessments on one visual display. In this respect, not only does the present invention mitigate the need for multiple air/fuel gauges, but it more importantly allows its users to concentrate on their primary tasks (e.g., driving) while receiving complete exhaust mixture assessments for all the exhausts involved.